Monday, July 17, 2006

Updates from Israel - Monday, July 17th

Good evening Blog World - I'm tired. Very tired. Going to sleep now...will update in the morning. I certainly hope Hizbolla takes a break so that I can get some sleep, and that the IDF can target them and kill them while they sleep.

To the residents of Israel: A Peaceful Evening! (if possible)

Regards from the Muqata in the hills of the Shomron...

--Jameel

11:28 PM Shul hit in Tzefat -- 4 wounded.

11:25 PM Tzav-8 (emergency draft notices). At the behest of the Minister of Defence, Tzav-8 orders are being delivered now to IDF infantry reserve soliders

11:20 PM Katyusha's landed in Maalot.

11:13 PMOthers reports what I will not write when it's still censored.

10:43 PM 3 Katyusha rockets hit Haifa Rockets hit Tzefat. MDA investigating that a rocket may have hit a location with many people...(IDF censor preventing publication of location, and other stories)

10:41 PM:Lebanese News Site "The Lebanese Foundation for Peace" has the following news flash: MISSING ISRAELI SOLDIERS HELD AT THE IRANIAN EMBASSY IN BEIRUTDelicate Intelligence information coming out of Hezbollah indicated that the 2 missing captives of the Israeli Army Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev have been smuggled outside Southern Lebanon to the capital.

They are secretly being held at the Embassy of Iran in Beirut, under direct Iranian security guards supervision.

10:35 PM Incoming Missiles into Haifa- sirnes throughout the city...(I can barely keep up with those Hizbolla bastards)

8:33 PM Breaking News Update: The IAF plane/helicopter which Hizbolla/Lebanon claimed was shot out of the sky over Beirut today [and reported on Lebanese News] was actually a large Hizbolla rocket launched towards Israel -- which was intercepted and blown out of the sky by the Israel Air Force! (Channel 2 TV news update NOW)

Addendum: Channel 2 NEWS is now saying it MAY have been shot out of the air or maybe malfunctioned. In any event, it was a very large looking rocket that fell back down to earth in Beirut.

6:30 PM Here's a cool video of the IDF and IAF in action. (When there's a lull in reporting...we try to boost everyone's morale)

Some body parts of the dead soldier were left behind, Palestinian witnesses said. Hundreds of Palestinians later gathered at the scene to view parts of the soldier's leg, and many of them reacted with celebratory chants, the witnesses said. (JPost)

The army had threatened dire retribution if the soldier's body part was not returned -- and apparently, the leg was returned. St.-Sgt. Osher Damari's funeral will be held Monday evening at 6 p.m. in the military section of the Netanya cemetery

4:40 PM: 2 Qassam rockets hit Sderot-- one on HaAliya Street, One near Amdocs in an open field.. No injuries reported...(yeshanews)

3:48 PMMDA reports 6 wounded in building collapse; one serious, three moderate, 2 light. Police confirm no trapped people in rubble. (please ignore the police, they have no clue)

3:12 PMCNN Reports IDF ground forces entering South Lebanon.

3:11 PM Rocket strikes continue to hi the North -- reports of rocket hits in Nazereth and Upper Nazereth.

3:09 PM Direct hit by rocket on 3-story house in Hafia - entire building collapses. Emergency Rescue and Medical Teams converging on the site.

2:58 PM Rockets Land in Migdal HaEmek and Tiverya -- No Injuries reported in Migdal HaEmek.

2:51 PM Speaking to fellow blogger on the phone in Haifa, as he quickly walks scrambles down the stairs with his family to his bomb shelter, as air raid siren blares in the background... (more here on YNET)2:40 PM Additional Katusha strikes reported in Carmiel. (no injuries reported)2:37 PM Air raid sirens in Afula, Katyusha rockets strike Maalot. (no injuries reported)

2:35 PM IDF DENYING ALL REPORTS CONCERNING DOWNED PLANE (lets hope they're right!)2:34 PM Katyusha rockets continue to rain down over Northern Israel - Akko, Kiryat Chaim, Haifa. No injuries reported.2:33 BREAKING NEWS: Lebanese News Sources report IAF plane or IAF Apache Helicopter has been shot down over Beirut. Conflicting Reports, No confirmation from IDF.1:53 PM Katyusha rockets land in the Golan Heights.1:45 PM Rockets land all over North: Haifa, Tzefat, Nahariya and other locations. No injuries reported.1:22 PMNausea News Story of the Day: France sent Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to Beirut on Monday to express support and solidarity for Lebanon, President Jacques Chirac's office said. (JPost)

1:15 PM In Carmiel attack, there are a few victims of shell-shock. (lightly wounded)

1:00 PM Direct Katyusha hit on house in Carmiel. Emergency crews trying to determine if there are wounded.

12:53 PM: Katyusha rockets hit Carmiel...MDA units responding.

12:50 PM: Name of IDF solider killed this morning in Shechem, released for publication: Sergeant Osher Damari, 20 from Netanya

12:13 PM This past evening, over 20 Qassam rockets were fired at Southern Israel, hitting Sderot, Nachal Oz, and other locations. 2 people were slightly wounded by shrapnel when a Qassam rocket landed in their backyard.

11:45 AM Here's what the sirens sound like up North (near Haifa) from within a bomb shelter...

11:10 AM: Israeli Police stop suspicious Palestinian in Jerusalem (Kikar Tzahal) -- discover large explosive device in his bag. Terrorist arrested, taken in for questioning. (note: we are VERY lucky)

11:00 AM: IDF Homefront Command reissues advisement for Central Israel residents to be near buildings and bomb shelters in case of attack.

10:25 AM: Last night around 3 AM, an IDF patrol in Shechem was ambushed Palestinian terrorists threw an explosive device at the patrol. A firefight ensued, resulting in the death of 1 IDF soldier, 1 wounded seriously, 2 moderately, and 3 lightly. Due to the firefight, it took a long time for the IDF to extricate thw wounded. One of the wounded soliders is the son of Yair Naveh, commander of IDF Central Region.

Think you should color code your updates. When we do something good maybe put it in blue and when something bad happens to us put it in red or have various degress of bad - orange, yellow etc. Neutral can stay black.

". . . Even fewer people remember that a minute after the attack on the American soldiers [in 1983, allegedly by Hezbollah], the French headquarters in Beirut was also leveled by a suicide bomber, killing fifty-eight paratroopers.

And fewer people than this remember the French response: an attack against Iranian military posts in Lebanon.

anon 10:11 - while I had a similar instinctive reaction to that, I think there are 2 major distinctions to be made.

Firstly the problem with Hamas boys with machine guns is mostly that its Hamas (an organization dedicated to murdering Jews) and less about the machine guns. By contrast, unless you subscribe to the moral equivalency view of things (which I doubt), the artillery here is being used legitimately in self-defense to kill those same murderers. So I see no problem on that front - these are the good guys.

The second argument would be against exposing children to violence and warfare so closely in any event. While I agree with this point generally, these girls live in Kiryat Shmona - they are already subject to violence and warfare courtesy of Hezbollah's rockets. At that point I see little harm in letting them be involved in the warfare that is necessary to defend their homes.

As for the pic of the girls writing on the missiles, I find that really disturbing. I would hope others would agree too, especially since if that was the other side doing that, I can just imagine everyone's reaction to it.

Like I said the situations are different and not morally equivalent. The fact that I thought about the Hamas children bothers me.

I guess what bothers me in this case is that the children are not being involved in warfare to defend their homes. They are doing an art project on a missile. If it was a picture of children bring water and food to soldiers, I'd be ok. If it was even children coming to give the soliders hugs, entertainment, or support, I'd be ok. Still something about them playing with missiles is very bothersome.

I have to agree with some of the others, in that I also found the picture of the girls disturbing. Too many parallels to what our enemies teach their children. We have to teach our children to protect themselves and fight our enemies. We don't have to teach them to enjoy it.

Fern, I followed your link to TTLB and found a bunch of Arab blogs. I have to say that I found what they write to be sickening. If that's what our counterparts, the "intelligent" Arab blogging community, thinks about us, there isn't much hope for peace.

TTLB himself is great, just as a note... and it's good to see what they're writing. It's good to see the truth about the Arab civilians around the world, instead of hearing how the people aren't pro-terrorism.

Regarding the photo... I was wondering about them being right by artillery, but I'm assuming the army wouldn't allow it unless it was deemed safe. It could be that they are safer near the tanks for whatever reason.

Regarding the writing on the shells... I don't view it the same way as others. These are shells on a truck, not live machine guns around someone's neck in their arms. They are writing messages of their own imagination, not being led in a chant of "Death to the Arabs." They are not celebrating the deaths of innocent Lebanese. They are writing messages to Nassralah and Hizbollah.

PT--I haven't had a chance to read the blos linked to, but (1) I think it's important to monitor anti-Israel blogs, and (2) pro-Israel blogs need to be added to TTLB's list, which is why I linked to his request for help. TTLB is not anti-Israel or anti-semetic (Ezzie hosts a TTLB community for the JBlogosphere at TTLB), we just need to take advantage of the tools out there to make sure that the pro-Israel message is being heard by people outside the Jewish community (which is why I posted the links).

Jameel, I'm so bothered by that picture of the young girls signing the rockets......am I alone???

Thanks for all the updates, we're trying to keep things as normal as possible here for the kids and are not putting on the news during the day, so it's good to be able to pull up your blog and get updates.

I'm also bothered by the picture of the girls signing artillery shells. Soldiers are supposed to do such things, but civilian kids?

Actually, I'm bothered by something else. The kids are writing in both Hebrew and English, but the English, at least, is not so good (the closest shell says "To Nazrala [sic] whit[sic] love/from Israel"). Why is this written in English, and who actually wrote it? From the dress, they don't look particularly religious, but the majority of kids from English speaking homes tend to come from religious families. I'd expect native born Israelis to write primarily in Hebrew (after all, it's unlikely that anyone to whom the message is address is actually going to read it). I don't know why these pictures were taken (but they weren't on a truck... they appear to be on the ground, as the girls are crouching to write), but something just screams "media op" to me...

Ezzie -- I'm aware that there are a lot of Anglos here ... living in Ramat Bet Shemesh emphasizes that point all too much. Nevertheless, most of the Anglo families I know tend to more slightly more religious... I'm just commenting on a feeling that I got. Something didn't quite add up... maybe I'm making too big of a deal out of this.

Granted, many Anglo children here have the world's worst spelling (I have a co-worker, born in the US, raised in an English speaking family, who once spelled door as dore). Still, something says "(somewhat) staged" to me. Maybe I'm just too jaded.

info on the kids writing on shells picture.via:http://adloyada.typepad.com/adloyada/2006/07/how_to_demonize.htmlhttp://www.sandmonkey.org/2006/07/18/the-fucked-up-pictures-explained/ Lisa: kids were in bomb shelters for days. city is a ghost town.

only poor people stayed

a new army unit arrived, kids were bored, went out with parents to look

there were TWELVE photographers there

and they egged the kids on

the kids are low class, not educated, have never met a Lebanese, just want to live their lives, don't understand why Lebanon attacked their home, etc.

the photographers told them "hey, your cousins in america will see you!"

mostly foreign photographers

so the kids, who were bored and restless and had been cooped up in bomb shelters for 5 days, took the felt markers and drew messages to nasrallah

there were no cries of hatred toward lebanese

and a big problem is that the israeli tv does not show dead lebanese. it shows destroyed buildings, but not dead bodies. so no one has a face of the dead in their minds. too aware of our own suffering, etc.